Things About Me

I've been "tagged" by my friend Marcie, chain-letter style. In my own usual way of obstinance and defiance, I'm going to do it, but not exactly by the rules given to me.



I'm changing it from 8 things about me, to 6 things about me. I'm boring enough that 6 should be plenty.



6 Things I Did Yesterday:

1. Blow my nose enough that I'm now out of Kleenex and have a Hitler-like-red-moustache, sore nose.

2. Watched "Wives and Daughters," an excellent miniseries based on the novel by the same name. I finished reading the very long novel a couple of days earlier.

3. Folded laundry.

4. Took an afternoon nap.

5. Bought a small piece of jewelry off of television (under $25)- I last bought jewelry off television six years ago, and I love those earrings.

6. Had my first cup of hot chocolate of the season.



6 Favorite TV Shows:

1. Pushing Daisies

2. 30 Rock

3. Good Eats

4. Watching my nephews laugh at "America's Funniest Home Videos" without having to actually watch it myself.

5. The Amazing Race

6. Did I mention Pushing Daisies? Oh, I did? Then Monk.



6 Things I Look Forward To:

I have to mention that I'm pretty content with the here-and-now, but there are always things on the horizon to look forward to.

1. Visiting our families for Thanksgiving.

2. When Nick comes home.

3. Days with perfect weather.

4. Spring Flowers

5. Getting over this cold/bronchitis

6. The birth of our first child in March.



6 Favorite Restaurants:

1. Any place with good sandwiches

2. The Old Spaghetti Factory

3. Zia's (Their toasted ravioli is the best in St. Louis thus far)

4. Pho Grande, a Thai place here in St. Louis

5. Sawadee, a Thai place on South Temple, be sure to have the Mango rice.

6. Arby's. I love French Dipped Roast beef, with some curly fries.



6 Things on my Wish list:

Here, I also want to mention we're pretty content and feel we've been very blessed materially, but someday when I'm married to an attending (Nick in 6 years) there's a few things I'm going to buy.

1. A reliable car with at least four doors, Air Conditioning, where all of the buttons and doors work how they're supposed to, and made in the same decade in which I take ownership.

2. A Vacuum with a hose.

3. A Headboard.

4. A new pair of Dansko shoes.

5. A Bosch mixer

6. A house, preferably not split level and with a fenced back yard and a doggie door.



6 Quirks of Mine:

1. I graduated from Music school, but never listen to music.

2. I take chemistry classes as a hobby.

3. I like to bake, but not cook.

4. I like unloading the dishwasher far more than loading it.

5. I have a dog, but he lives with my mom in Utah.

6. One word, "Karacaine"



The tagging of my fellow bloggers would then take place here, but instead I'll just invite all interested parties to participate. I know I would like reading them on your blogs, but no pressure.

Sick and Tired

Only last week I was thinking, it seems like it's been a really long time since I was sick. (I was thinking it had been since New Year's day, but I now remember I got bronchitis in April.) I shouldn't have thought any of it. Saturday afternoon I started to get a cold. Sunday, I woke up and spoke in Church, then immediately came home to go back to bed sick. Monday I had fun plans, but the cold proved too strong and I stayed on the couch for much of the day.
Which brings us to Tuesday- I now have bronchitis and couldn't find my inhaler. I was going to the pharmacy to pick up a refill inhaler, when I discovered the car won't start.
Nick worked nights last night, but had to get up at 12:30 to attend the Ethics Committee's meeting. (He's on the committee, not in trouble, just for clarification.) When he gets back I'll be able to go get the inhaler and breathe a little easier.
On the positive side, there were no flies attacking the speaker in Sacrament meeting, and I checked my teeth beforehand for lipstick.

The Greatest Dissapointment Ever!

It may not be the greatest disappointment of my life, but it was certainly the greatest disappointment I experienced on Thursday, between 12:00 and 3:00.
Those familiar with Woot will also be familiar with the elusive "Bag of Crap" offering. When the BOC comes up as an item, it is sold out within a minute, usually crashing their server temporarily. On Thursday, I happened to check woot during the Woot-Off, and saw the long-sought for BOC. I clicked the "I Want One" button, only to find their server crashing, and by the time the page reloaded, it was sold out.
Getting a Bag of Crap is a goal of my life that remained unattained. All I can do is strive to click faster and better on the next Woot-Off.

A fun Surprise: Doug in Saint Louis

I got a call Saturday from my dad and found out he'd be in Saint Louis late that night. What a great surprise! He got to the truck stop late Saturday night, so early Sunday morning Nick and I went across the river to pick him up.
While going to Illinois to pick someone up may sound like an adventure, I think it was less than ten miles each way.

We went back to our apartment, had a delicious breakfast with genuine maple syrup Doug had bought in Vermont. We then went to Stake Conference, and afterwards had a delicious meal at the Saint Louis Smith's. (They're always great hosts, and Patti makes one mean apple pie.)

It was the first time my dad has visited without my mom and it was fun to spend the day with the three of us.

After we got back to his truck, he did his pre-trip inspection and we followed him across the Mississippi, where we took different freeways. You will notice the Arch in the background. I took this from the adjacent lane as we went across the bridge. He was headed for Grand Junction, Colorado with two snow cats on his flatbed.
Thanks for the visit Dad!

Vermont 2008

On Tuesday I returned from a great trip to Vermont with my family, but without Nick. We had a lot of fun seeing the beautiful Vermont mountains, riding bikes, and spending a lot of time in the van. Harry and Dallas both blogged about it, so read their commentaries and view their pictures.
The best part was spending time with Vinny and Owen. It's amazing how quickly they're both growing up, and how they're becoming more independent all the time. We spent a lot of time in the parking lot watching the boys ride their bikes in circles.

Sutures Look Like They Hurt

Sutures, or what laypeople call stitches, look like they are not fun. As a nurse, I removed lots of them, but have never any myself. Nick has been practicing his suturing technique. Right now he's on his first surgical rotation (Gynecologic surgery), and the opportunity may arise to help close at the end of a surgery. Nick went to a suturing technique class last year, but spent some time this weekend refreshing and refining the basics. Why the sponge? In the suturing class they suggested sponges as a good medium to mimic the resistance of actual humans. And unlike humans, the sponges hold still and don't complain.

Today's Activity

Today I sewed another Hooter-Hider knockoff for a friend who recently had her baby prematurely, but now everyone is home from the hospital and doing well. I chose a funkier fabric, because this girl is cool. So cool, in fact, her last name is Funk. No joke.
I know all of you are fascinated by this entry. My only other option for entertaining you was to relive the very confusing Organic Chemistry lecture I had today on IR Spectroscopy. You've know heard both highlights of my day.
My office chair makes a great model, doesn't it?

To The Garden . . . Again

This morning I went with Janette and little Miss A to the Missouri Botanical Garden. We enjoyed a nice walk around the gardens. The Nikki exhibit will be leaving soon so it's nice to see her sculptures a few more times before they are gone.
Very few of the leaves have changed to Autumn colors. The nights here just don't get cool enough for the change to happen too quickly.

If you look at the picture of Miss A for just a moment, it appears she has three feet. The third foot peeking out from behind the stroller is Janette's, also in a green sandal. By the time we left at 11:00 it had become surprisingly warm. We went to the labyrinth known as the School of Medicine afterwards to pick up a book for Brigham. Science bookstores always have so much fun and interesting stuff. Where else can you get a key chain that's also an anatomically correct model of the human heart?

Weekend Update and Run

Nick and I have had a great weekend which included spending a lot of together, watching conference sessions and the BYU football game. Very early Saturday morning I went to the Strides4Kids 5K as the "assistant photographer." Once again, I'm not a photographer, but I can take a lens cap off and depress a shutter button. I borrowed my mom's Digital SLR for this project, because shooting it with my little Lumix would have been near ridiculous.

Taking pictures of things that don't hold still can be a little difficult. And once a runner has passed you, there aren't any do-overs. The event was a success and had good turnout. It was organized by med students and their wives, which I thought was a pretty ambitious project to take on.

I had gone to the half-way point of the race to take pictures, and when I drove to the finish line, an ambulance was pulling away. I was concerned of course, that something had happened to one of the runners. Not so. Someone had a found an unconscious guy in the park. You people in Bountiful don't know what you're missing.